Tesco and the sequential test – again

Planning & Environment

Tesco and the sequential test – again

It’s not been a good year so far for Tesco in the Scottish courts. I’ve blogged already about the Tain case, in which their challenge to an Asda permission was dismissed (here).

Tesco have also lost round 2 of their legal challenge to an Asda permission in Dundee (here), after losing round 1 in September.

The consistent theme is that the judges do not want to get involved in debates about the application of the sequential test. It’s a matter for the judgment of the planning authority, and their Lordships will only intervene where the decision is perverse.

So does this mark the end of this type of legal challenge? Of course not. There’s always a chance that the circumstances of the next case might be different enough to persuade a judge to intervene. Next up is the litigation about retail development in East Kilbride, so the outcome of that will be interesting.

Neil is a partner at Brodies LLP and consistently rated as one of Scotland’s leading planning lawyers. He is well known for both his planning inquiry advocacy and his advisory work. Neil has a particular interest in renewable energy developments.